Tag Archives: adrenal

(For those of you not familiar with P90X, it is a high intensity fitness program where 6 days a week you are working a different part of your body.)

I was so fatigued, that I was postponing workouts to the next day, and finding myself days behind and trying to catch up. I was so tired, I literally had a hard time standing up during the workout or even finishing it. Being tired during the workout, and also afterwards, should have been my clue that something wasn’t right. I mean, exercise is supposed to make you feel better, not WORSE!

To make matters worse, I was getting periods about every 2 weeks. Prior to this, I could set a watch by my cycle, it was extremely regular and predictable. So for it to freak out like this, it definitely (FINALLY) made me take notice.

I am a big proponent of natural routes if possible, so I sought advice of my voodoo doctor chiropractor who advised me that my thyroid was overactive, which was responsible for my symptoms.

Looking back, this made sense. Our thyroid is like a gauge on our metabolism. When it speeds up, everything speeds up – digestion, energy usage (which explains why I was exhausted), female organ activity, etc. I was unknowingly telling my body to speed up metabolism by loading it up with tons of activity. At the time, I was also at the height of my 3rd year of triathlon training. My body was being overworked like crazy. And it couldn’t handle the load.

Here I was telling my body to speed up, and speed up and speed up until the speedometer was broken.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

P90X is a wonderful program that has brought a lot of people awesome fitness levels. I adore Tony Horton and his positive attitude throughout the program. He has helped thousands of people lead more positive and productive lives by shedding fat and getting into shape. It was, however, not right for me. In my body, what it did was kick my Hashimoto’s into high gear.

In my body, it was part of what I have come to know as the trifecta of Hashimoto’s.

In order to develop Hashimoto’s, there is usually a genetic predisposition. Something about this could also be the reason why so many more women get Hashimoto’s than men.

The second thing is that the gut, our wonderful armor from the inside, has to be compromised in some way. For me it was eating an overabundance of wheat, eggs, sugar during my overtraining. I was HUNGRY! I also have decades of sugar abuse under my belt that I’m certain didn’t help the situation.

The final piece is a trigger event. For me, that trigger event was physical stress from overtraining as well as emotional stress from life in general. I am super great at taking on the problems of the world, and apparently killing myself in the process.

This word was said to me at a doctor’s office while on my journey to trying to monitor my thyroid. You see, I was born in Ukraine and was still there when Chernobyl blew up. I knew that this made me more susceptible to thyroid conditions, even thyroid cancer, more so than the typical individual. So after pulling teeth for a year for a referral for an endocrinologist, I finally got my wish.

I am a research fanatic, so my endocrinologist was highly rated by his patients and a likeable fella. He explained to me that according to the ultrasound, my thyroid was “highly indicative of Hashimoto’s” to which I replied, “Hashi-wha-wha?”

We joked about how fun it was to say and he tried to tell me that he wished it was a good thing. Oh how far from grips I was during that appointment.

As I found out later, Mr. Hakaru Hashimoto was a Japanese Doctor who discovered the world’s first autoimmune disease. Meaning instead of fighting off viruses and bacteria to protect itself, the body turns on itself and becomes the villain. It attacks the thyroid (but can also attack other organs and tissues). This is what was happening in my body.

The reason it came as a somewhat surprise was that my disease was not extremely advanced. After all, my weight hadn’t ballooned exponentially, nor did most of my hair fall out like happens to a lot of women. It has been simmering for years, possibly decades until it got kicked in by a trigger event. That trigger event for me, was over exercising. And once the Hashimotos gene is turned on, it cannot be turned off. Only the response of the immune system can be lessened, God willing.

I left the office that day with medicine in hand, which I made my Doctor give me. He tried to tell me that I was borderline and that my thyroid blood test results were technically “normal”. But..but…but…what about this thing? Hashi-something? Don’t I need medicine for it?

And although I felt better that day knowing that I had caught this malady proactively and I had medicine in hand to “fix” it, I had no idea what was in store for me.